


The Backs of Ducks

by writernotwaiting



Series: Inverse [14]
Category: Persuasion - Jane Austen, Return to Cranford
Genre: F/M, Inspired by Fanfiction, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-24 02:42:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 99
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15620754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writernotwaiting/pseuds/writernotwaiting
Summary: Based on a list of words given to me by missdibley from her fic, Hammersmith: "Will Buxton and Alice Elliot fell in lust, and then in love, before they were separated by her family. Nine years later, he has returned to find her much the same as she was the summer they first met. He remembers her, but could he forgive her?"





	The Backs of Ducks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [missdibley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdibley/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Hammersmith](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4233597) by [missdibley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdibley/pseuds/missdibley). 



**The backs of ducks**

 

In the cottage

near the pond

there’s a ribbon

     fallen

          on

               the

                    tiles,

there’s a shadow

across white sheets,

and bruises left

by a storm

on the memory

of tanned skin.

 

Beneath the water,

          she holds.

          her breath.

          and listens.

          to the rush.

          of blood.

          in her ears—

weightless and unburdened

by decisions,

by fortune.

 

On the dock,

sunlight becomes solid,

     refracting

          off

               watery

                    undulations,

and she could almost

          step out,

walk across

that blinding brightness,

fish brushing

against the soles of her feet,

her sighs

darting away—

               mayflies

     caught in the net

     of tomorrow.


End file.
